


Mysterious ways

by halfeatenmoon



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Friendship, Post-Battle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-22 22:37:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12492368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfeatenmoon/pseuds/halfeatenmoon
Summary: Rey kissed Poe first, in his quarters on D'Qar, and it felt wrong.





	Mysterious ways

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aimmyarrowshigh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aimmyarrowshigh/gifts).



> Your prompt gave me a lot to think about! I hope you enjoy.

It was still the night after they took down Starkiller. Still, because it felt like Rey had been awake for so long that she'd lived a whole week between dawn and dusk. The battle a blur, one long adrenaline rush that just left her with the patchy memories of Han Solo falling, Finn's back smoking, Kylo Ren's eyes burning into hers. What she did remember, in excruciating detail, was the panic of trying to fly home with an injured Finn, with Chewbacca just as distraught as she was. Then there was everything that happened on D'Qar afterwards, from watching Finn rushed away to all the people who wanted to meet her to telling the General the bad news she already knew to standing in the command room, repeating everything that had happened while feeling like she was ready to collapse.

 

The last part had been the worst, even worse than telling the General about Han. The Resistance command kept it as brief as they could, but they needed her report and they needed it right away. Rey was exhausted, swaying on her feet, and she had to keep her eyes open and keep going back to what happened there in the snow to try to answer all of their questions. The only reason she didn't walk out and find somewhere to nap was the knowledge that the generals were going to stay up through the night so they could act on everything she said.

 

Well, that and the man who slipped into the room early in the meeting, with BB-8 rolling at his heels. He whispered that his name was Poe Dameron, that he'd seen Finn to the med bay and he was still asleep but stable. BB-8 bumped gently against her legs, and she reached down to caress the dome of its head. They both stayed here, BB-8 on one side and Poe on the other, until finally, the ordeal was over, and Poe took her gently by the shoulder to steer her out of the room.

 

"You did great in there," he assured her. "That was tough. You want anything to eat, or you just want to sleep?"

 

"Sleep," Rey said, desperately. And then "Uh. I mean. They brought some bread in at the start..."

 

Poe chuckled, but it was kindly done. "It's hardly enough. But let's get you a bed first, and get you some more food when you're more awake."

 

His hand was still on her back, warm between her shoulder blades. For fourteen years, nobody ever touched Rey with kindness, and now Poe was about the third person to do it in two days. If he'd been holding her, taking her hand like Finn had all the way back on Jakku, she would have shaken it off. But that hand on her back, guiding and supporting but not trapping her even a little, felt perfect. It was kind, it was comfort, and it made her crave more.

 

"So, i don't think anyone's assigned you sleeping quarters," Poe continued, apologetically. "You can sleep in my room if you want, but I don't want to pressure you. I'll sleep on the floor. but if you're uncomfortable with that..."

 

"Yes. Please," Rey said, immediately.

 

"It's just, I know we just met, and you don't even know me, so if you don't want to spend the night in my room, it's completely understandable."

 

This needed a response other than 'I want to', but Rey was having trouble sorting through all the tired responses in her head. There was 'I don't want to be alone' and 'I like your hands' and she even maybe wanted to say 'You don't have to sleep on the floor'. Eventually she settled on "BB-8 likes you, so you must be okay."

 

Poe laughed again. "Okay then. Here we are."

 

Poe's quarters were small, a simple bunk, a space for clothes and a shelf with a few trinkets on it. Poe's things, much like the flowers Rey used to display in her old home. Not as pretty as her flowers, but still nice. There was a dock by the wall that BB-8 plugged into and powered down with a warbled 'goodnight'. And there was Poe, spreading spare pillows and blankets on the floor and looking up at her with a tired smile.

 

"So I'll sleep on the floor, and you can take the bed. Um, I don't have anything else you can wear, but if you want to change into something else to sleep, I can find something."

 

Rey didn't want to find a change of clothes. She wanted sleep far more than she wanted clean clothes, more than she wanted to see Finn. And more than that, she didn't want to be alone in this room in a strange place, with BB-8 asleep in his dock. Poe was turning towards the door and Rey reached out to stop him, just a hand on his elbow. When he turned, to face her, though, she found she couldn't let go, and gripped him tighter, instead.

 

"Rey? Are you okay -"

 

She'd lived fine without any loving touch for fourteen years, but just a little had made her hungry for it, ravenously hungry. She gripped his flight suit, hard, and kissed him hard and messy. Poe made a muffled grunt of surprise, but a moment later he sighed and open his mouth to hers. He put his arms around her shoulders, holding her to him with the barest of pressure, as gentle as she was rough.

 

Then suddenly, it all felt wrong, and she pushed herself herself away suddenly, a hand to her mouth. Rey took another step back, watching Poe warily. He just stretched his neck and gave her a tired smile.

 

"Like I was saying. You okay there, Rey?"

 

"Why do people keep asking me that?" she asked, tiredly. "I'm okay."

 

"Okay," Poe said, easily. "So did you want to sleep, or did you want to kiss again, or... ah, okay," he said, when she recoiled at that. "I mean, if you didn't like it, that's fine. I'll just forget it ever happened... woah, hey, do you want to sit down?"

 

Rey sat down hard on the bed and hid her face in her hands. "It wasn't supposed to be like this."

 

Poe thought on that for a moment. "Yeah, it feels like that a lot," he agreed. "Seriously, though, I can be a better kisser, sometimes it takes practice."

 

She laughed at that, at least, and gave him a crooked smile. "I liked it."

 

"Well, that's something."

 

"I just didn't think this was supposed to happen."

 

Poe didn't ask what wasn't supposed to happen; he asked what was.

 

"I don't know any more," Rey sighed. "I was supposed to wait on Jakku until my family came back. And then... I was supposed to help Finn, but he ran away, and then I thought the Force had a plan for me. And wen Finn came back I thought the Force had a plan for him, for us..."

 

"Maybe it does." Poe stared out towards the door as he rubbed at her shoulders. "But if the Force plans things, its plans work in weird ways. If that's destiny, then it must be destiny for Skywalker to have run away, and for Ben to turn on his parents... you can't trust that the Force is going to guide you to any one thing, I guess. I thought I was destined to fight for the Republic, but I had to turn my back on them, practically betray them, so I could fight the First Order."

 

Rey shook her head. "Or maybe the Force isn't even real. Maybe the universe doesn't care about us at all."

 

"Yeah, but what else does the Force care about? You'd have to talk to Skywalker for that, and I bet even he doesn't know." Poe sighed. "We don't have to kiss ever again, if you didn't like it. And I can't tell you what it means, or what it'll mean if we keep doing it. But I liked it. And if the Force has a plan for anyone... well, then it brought Finn to save me and brought you to save him, so it must be thinking of us."

 

Rey didn't respond for a long time. She didn't fall asleep, just stared at the space on the floor where Poe was going to sleep. Then finally, she said, "I liked it."

 

"Okay, well, that's nice to know," Poe grinned, and patted her on the shoulder. "But we're both exhausted, and I'm gonna hit the hay."

 

"Wait!" Rey said. "Can't we... again?"

 

"Now you wait to ask me," Poe said, with a chuckle.

 

But he leaned in to kiss her, gentle and firm, and she responded with all the hunger and ferocity she had before, with one hand gripping his hair and another at his shoulder, holding him there as she nipped at his lower lip like she was holding onto a rock in a storm.


End file.
